What amount of CO2 Carbon Dioxide is reasonable in the home to maintain good health

[1_Patriotic_Guy]

Not trying to be rude, but yes carbon dioxide, not carbon monoxide, and where can I buy a sensor?

As a veteran confined to my home, I have time to think and act only in my small corner of the world. Since I am in my home almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I would like to maximize the health I have. I exercise and get fresh air outside my back door, but as it gets cold, I spend much more time inside. So the subject line is my question and how do I monitor it.

I ask because this month when the furnace 1st kicked on I had to have a repair person deal with a carbon monoxide issue, so now I have 3 carbon monoxide detectors, 1 in the furnace roon, 1 in my bedroom and one in the main room of the house.

Thanks in Advance! Andy

[xrongor]

stop exhaling. that will lower the co2...

seems like a pointless fruitless task. talk to a doctor.

randy

[SQLit]

I an at a loss to understand why your worried about CO2. Get some plants and "forget-about-it". I doubt that your home is tight enough to be a problem with CO2. All of the detectors I have used for CO2 were multi testing units costing thousands of dollars. We use those in confined spaces.

[Rich]

Copied from

"ASHRAE standard 62-1989 recommends a maximum CO2 level of 1000 ppm. The proposed new OSHA standard (29CFR Part 1910.1033) calls for investigation if the CO2 level exceeds 800 ppm of CO2."

has a meter, but it's a bit pricey.

Rich

[Edwin Pawlowski]

For a few years I worked part time for a medical oxygen supplier. I did tests on equipment used in people's homes, mostly for oxygen. I never found a difference in carbon dioxide by more than a half percent or so. Relax and enjoy your life.

[Beachcomber]

Every situation is different and yes, you do not normally have to worry about it unless...

Are you using any of the new non-vented heating appliances? Kerosene heaters and so forth...

Like any combustion process... These heaters do consume oxygen and produce CO2 as a by-product. The code requires that they have oxygen depletion sensors that will automatically shut off the unit if oxygen is not present in the atmosphere in the correct proportion (around 20

- 21%)

CO (Carbon Monoxide) is deadly because it robs your bloodstream of oxygen and it can and has killed many people because of a mis-adjusted furnace - or a leak in the combustion chamber, or a bar-b-que grill cooking indoors. It is caused by an incomplete combustion process usually with a lack of sufficient oxygen to properly burn whatever fuel is being used.

CO2 gas (Carbon Dioxide) is not poisonous like Carbon Monoxide, but it too can be deadly in large concentrations (if it displaces the normal 20-21% level of oxygen in the air). Kerosene, Natural Gas, Oil, and Propane heaters all produce lots of CO2 (when properly adjusted) and vent this combustion gas to the outside air. As mentioned above, there are some newer appliances that are non-vented that may safely be used by following the manufactuers safety regulations.

Beachcomber

[David Martel]

Andy,

The room level of CO2 varies widely. Outside air has about 0.03% CO2. The air in your lungs has about 5% CO2. For short term exposure anything under

5% is probably ok. For the long term anything under 1% is the govt. recommendation I think.

Dave M.

[John Smith]

Carbon dioxide, like nitrogen, is not toxic. You don't need to worry about it's concentration. It only becomes a problem when it displaces oxygen. What you want is an oxygen sensor that tells you the oxygen level. Make sure the air in your house contains no less than 19.5% of oxygen. Forget about the carbon dioxide level.

[Phisherman]

There is no reason to be concerned about carbon dioxide. It is not a poisonous gas, but it is a waste product of all animals. CO2 is normally at about 330 ppm (parts per million) or about 0.033% of our atmosphere. Any kind of combustion produces CO2. If you are concerned about CO2 or other waste gases, house plants will help (spider plant, philodendron, etc.) A device to measure oxygen levels is probably more important.

[George E. Cawthon]

You are way too paranoid. So you deal with the carbon monoxide from the furnace. Now that it is fixed where are you going to get CO, so why do you have 3 detectors? Did you have a detector before the furnace was fixed? if not why didn't you die? The fact is that deaths due to CO are relatively rare in homes and mostly confined to people doing very stupid things and the small remainder are due to extremely poor maintenance of fuel burning furnaces.

OTOH, deaths due to high carbon dioxide levels, is not only rare, it is essentially non-existent. It is probably impossible to have high levels of carbon dioxide in any house that has windows and doors that open. Most houses leak a minimum of 10 percent volume per day, which avoids any CO2 build up.

Manufactures of CO detectors jumped on the bandwagon and make a lot of money hyping CO hysteria and selling a product that is virtually useless to the average person. In contrast to some other commenters, there are CO2 detectors available at a cost no much greater than a CO detector. And of course, you could have just bought one CO detector and waited and go a CO and a CO2 combined detector for less than the cost of the other two CO detector you bought. These are becoming more and more common in the big box stores and are always available at RV stores (trailers and motorhomes) the danger level is several factors greater than in a home.

Good luck.

[nicksanspam]

I knew someone on the ground floor of a NYC apt building who died of CO. Last year, I woke up at 2 AM to my CO detector alarm and a headache and went downstairs and found I had shoveled a few red coals out of the woodstove and into the ash bucket...

Most houses leak a min 10% per HOUR, but maybe not, on a still day with equal indoor and outdoor temps. A 60% humidistat or 0.1% CO2 detector might turn on a vent fan as needed.

Where? The cheapest I've seen is about $500, vs a $40 CO detector. There may be a cheaper Japanese CO2 detector in the near future.

Can you name one? :-)

Nick

[m Ransley]

Cawthon you stupidly said this last year. The fact is apx 150 people die a year and thousands are made sick from Co. Heating equipment doesnt " call" you when it goes bad. I have 2 Co detectors

[George E. Cawthon]

I've looked at the statistics and it appears that no one agrees on the statistics. That said, I accept your 150 people dying a year but that is essentially an insignificant figure for deaths in the large scheme and means that the danger is insignificant compared to other causes of death. Do you worry about being struck by lightening or use a lightening detector? Do you avoid water for fear of drowning? Of those 150 people dying at least 100 died because of doing something foolish like using a hibachi in the house for heat. If you want something to be concerned with, worry about smoking, drinking, driving, falls in the bathroom, drowning, poisonings (intentional), food poison, etc. Nonetheless, you will probably die of circulatory disease or a cancer. The chances of you dying of CO or even getting sick is minuscule. Hell there are salesmen and people that even believe you should have a CO detector if you have an electric heating system.

Heating equipment, as well as plumbing and general electricity and the failing structure of a house do tell you when something is going wrong. Most people just don't paying attention or recognize that something is wrong and put off doing something about it.

[m Ransley]

George thousands of people get sick from Co, not from being stupid or negligent, just from lack of knowledge you and I posess.

My 82 year old neighbor complained to me of headaches, I thought she was just a complainer, then as an idea I brought over my Co meter, It registered 150, she got the furnace guy out who was out the last year and he found big cracks in the exchanger and replaced the furnace. Many older people cannot smell well and dismiss symptoms of Co as a cold. A worker of mine complained of being sick, I loaned him my Co meter, it was a partialy blocked flue. Birds sit on chimneys to get warm, die and fall in. Equipment breaks, things happen . Co meters save lives and keep people informed before big problems happen.

[m Ransley]

George, Heating equipment does not "tell" you when Co is being released because of a cracked exchanger, poor draft or racoon in the chimney, I had a racoon in my chimney.

Co detectors do. They save enough lives in Chicago that they are mandatory in apartment buildings. The proved thenselves to me when the exaust blower motor on my 117000 btu water heater failed. They should be mandatory, Co does not smell and burnt NG can be decieving

[George E. Cawthon]

I have a CO meter; my wife insisted on it when we got a gas furnace. But I still think it is silly for most people and manufacture and sales is mostly just an opportunity for someone to make money.

I take your point about old people. Eyesight and hearing deteriorate to the point that they really can't know what is going on, so a CO meter may be a good think for them.

However, most people can hear a change in motor sounds, smell a change in air quality, detect a new odor, etc. My feeling is that since the problem is so minor, if they just don't care enough to investigate, let Darwin have his way.

CO isn't the only thing that kills, and those same unconscious people probably have all sorts of toxic chemicals under the sink easily available to their toddlers. The number of kids dying from poisonings each year makes CO poisoning a minuscule problem. The number of kids wandering around unwatched and falling in canals, ponds, and swimming pools to drowned also makes CO deaths minor. When the house is burning down, you shouldn't be fixing a squeaky door.

[George E. Cawthon]

I agree that multifamily and commercial buildings should have CO detection. They couldn't have saved many lives though if only 150 per year in the U.S. died of CO.

Shouldn't a failed exhaust blower shut down the water heater? Sounds like a failure of the safety features.

[Harry K]

Considering the minimal cost of a CO detector, why are you argueing against having one? I just got two for about $20 each. Very cheap insurance and if it is your family even one death from co is too much.

Harry K

[m Ransley]

Yes the saftey shut down on my tankless gas was defective and did not shut it off.

[George E. Cawthon]

Glad you asked. Cheap? not on a nation wide basis. Even one death, yes if it is your family, but no if it is someone elses family. Here are the numbers for home injuries: 20,000 deaths and

21 million hospital visits per year. Every family should have a CO detector right? over 200 million in the U.S. about 2.5 people per family. So if every family spends 25 bucks that is still $2 billion for the nation. And this is to prevent 150 deaths per year and ?? 3000 hospital visits? The U.S. doesn't spend $2 billion per year on the prevention of much of any kind of death regardless of the numbers.

You want to protect your family? for get the CO detector and spend $70 on a good ladder. Spend $20 on a good GFI. I could keep going, but after you spend about $100,000 on safety devices, then spend your $20 for a CO meter. And don't forget, you need to do that every 4-5 years.

I don't have any argument on an individual basis for buying and using a CO detector, but to advocate that purchase for all families is downright wasteful. Spending that kind of money on preventative medicine would be far more valuable to the nation. In fact, just a small fraction of that kind of money could save hundred or thousand of lives in each state by just making inoculations available for free.